“Privately held Pebble, the company that kicked off the smartwatch race a few years back, yesterday announced a new addition to its lineup, the ‘Pebble Time Round,’ just a scant six months after unveiling the Pebble Time,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
“Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky gave a look at the thing to CNBC earlier today,” Ray reports, “and also addressed competition from Apple’s Apple Watch.”
Ray reports, “At $249, the Pebble Time Round is cheaper than Apple’s $349 entry price for Apple Watch.”
When you think about Apple and the Apple Watch, it’s more of a Rolex. They’re building the high end of the market. Pebble, we are confidently in the entry point of the market. We are more of a Swatch right now. — Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky
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Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Round is wrong. And anyone sane who’s willing to spend at least $249 for a smartwatch is going to spend at least another $100 for a real smartwatch, one with Siri, Apple Pay, Digital Crown, Force Touch, Time Travel, Taptic Engine, Digital Touch, Turn-by-turn directions on your wrist, and over 10,000 apps.
Pebble is more like a Fossil.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s watchOS 2 makes Apple Watch even more useful – September 21, 2015
Apple Watch users are abandoning traditional watches – September 15, 2015
Over 1 million Apple Watches already sold in China – September 3, 2015
Apple Watch already dominates smart-wearables market, says IDC – August 28, 2015
IDC estimates Apple sold 3.6 million Apple Watch units in Q2 – August 27, 2015
Best Buy CEO: Apple Watch demand is ‘so strong’ that we’re expanding sales to all 1,050 stores – August 25, 2015
Swiss watch exports decline most since 2009 – August 20, 2015
I own two $6,000 Swiss watches, but I wear my Apple Watch most of the time – August 14, 2015
Apple Watch will make up 40% of premium wristwatch sales by 2020 – report – August 14, 2015
Apple Watch takes 88% of total smartwatch revenue – August 14, 2015
Apple Watch dominates smartwatches with 75% market share – July 28, 2015
Juniper Research: Apple is world’s #1 smartwatch maker – July 23, 2015
Canalys: Apple ships 4.2 million Apple Watches in Q2 to become world’s top wearables vendor – July 21, 2015
Apple Watch satisfaction is unprecedented at 97%; beats original iPhone and iPad – July 20, 2015
Swiss watch exports hit worst slump in five years as Apple Watch debuts – June 19, 2015
Apple Watch is Apple’s most successful product debut ever – June 1, 2015
Apple Watch, the world’s first real smart watch, will be a massive hit – September 9, 2014
If I wanted the low end market watch I would have kept that Casio with the calculator. hehe
While I do love my Apple products, the Apple watch is not a Rolex and it’s not trying to be.
I have a hard time spending $80 on a watch. Smart watch or none smart watch….lol
I spent $30 on my watch. I was going to replace my FitBit One but I chose a FitBit Charge instead for $30 more. It has time & date display, silent alarms, and caller ID. That’s on top of all the features of the more basic FitBit One’s fitness tracking and display capabilities and features. It also runs for 6 days on a charge.
Don’t want a Rolex or a Swatch.
Well! Fred doesn’t want an Apple Watch! Who could’ve guessed?
That never crossed our minds, despite his frequent disparagement of the very idea. His keen and persuasive market analysis is what threw us off. /s
To be fair to the guy, he’s not rubbishing Apple Watch like most rivals are. He’s taking a realistic view of where his product sits in the market place.
We might take issue about whether it’s likely to be a successful venture, but he’s aware that he isn’t competing with Apple and needs to find a different niche to exploit.
Agreed. When it was first announced, it was a little geeky but looked like it could do a few cool things. Unfortunately for Pebble, Watch was announced and just absolutely blew away every competitor’s abilities. Nothing unusual there: Apple is not the first with a product, but when they release one, everyone else’s is immediately recognized as junk.
At $249, I think he is competing with the Apple watch whether he realizes it or not.
At $199 or better at $149 he might have a chance. But if his product actually retails at $249 (not “suggested retail”) then his product is DOA.
I tend to agree with you. Unless you just hate the Apple watch, or are in the Android/Google ecosystem, and you are ready to spend got $250 on a smartwatch, you’d be foolish not to scrape up the bit more for the Apple Watch. $149. sounds about right. I *do* agree with alanaudio that the Pebble Watch people are good folks, and just trying to find a survivable niche.
Many coprolites are round.
I was not aware that Rolex sells more units than Swatch….
I have the Apple Watch, Garmin Epix and Fenix 3. Apple is great, but it has no GPS, phone like the Samsung Gear S and you can’t see the display in the bright sun, this doesn’t help when running. So I use the Garmin for running and Apple for everything else.
Hey, we’re Pebble. We are on the enjoyable, fun and cheaper end of smart watches. Also, we can’t make watches that advanced, so it’s super convenient for us to be here this niche.
Again MDN just mocks any other company that makes a compelling, less expensive product just because Apple decided to move into that space too. As if Apple’s ridiculously overpriced and underwhelming product is really that much better….
if Swatch was smart they would team up with Apple to make a Swatch branded Apple Phone. They could design the bands and clock faces and/or apps. That’s about the best they can hope for..
Yes.
And if Pebble were smart, they wouldn’t draw comparisons with existing brands of watches.